MANILA, Philippines - Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa yesterday placed the entire police force on high alert against a possible attack by communist rebels on the 41st anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today.
Verzosa reiterated the order for policemen to be on alert against possible attacks from the communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels as the government-declared ceasefire ends at midnight.
Malacañang has directed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PNP to remain on alert despite the ceasefire declaration, noting that the CPP-NPA had always launched attacks during their anniversary to highlight their Maoist struggle.
On the eve of their anniversary, the CPP declared they would support Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. in the presidential elections next year.
In a statement, the CPP said “among the four major presidential candidates, former Senate president Villar seems to be the most patriotic and progressive insofar as he advocates the interests of Filipino businessmen, expresses sympathy for the workers and peasants and condemns human rights violations.”
Villar’s NP slate includes left-leaning party-list Representatives Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna and Liza Maza of Gabriela in its senatorial lineup.
The two party-list groups have been earlier tagged as legal fronts of the CPP.
But the CPP, in the same statement, said they will be supporting Villar since “it remains to be seen whether he can win and prove himself any better than his major political rivals who have bloodstained records of opposing the demands of the workers and peasants.”
The CPP mentioned frontrunner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, former Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro, and former President Joseph Estrada, who they said are being haunted by issues.
They said Aquino has to contend with the issue of the family-owned Hacienda Luisita while Teodoro is “the mad dog defense secretary of (President) Arroyo.”
The CPP said they would not support Estrada “for having a bellicose record during his failed presidency.”
The CPP also said the major political parties and coalitions “avoid or even oppose the people’s demand for national independence and genuine democracy and do not criticize and repudiate free market globalization and the US-instigated policy of terror against the people.”
The communists mentioned the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD party that clings to its “discredited anti national and anti democratic policies.”
They said the major opposition parties, like the Liberal Party of Aquino and the Partido ng Masang Pilipino of Estrada, are “only pretending to be for good governance in the effort to dissociate themselves from (the present regime).”
In the same statement, the CPP said their support for Villar does not mean they would be abandoning their struggle.
Even if Villar emerges as the next president, the CPP said that “in the history of the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system, every president has kowtowed to the power of US imperialism and has sought to amass wealth and power for self-aggrandizement against the rights and interests of the people.”
By Cecille Suerte Felipe and Artemio Dumlao
The Philippine Star
Updated December 26, 2009 12:00 AM
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